The inventor applied a Chinese Invention Patent in title of “heat exchanger for bathing shower” with filing number of 20101055693.1 at Nov. 24, 2010, which is also announced in publishing number of CN102478367 at Feb. 12, 2014. The conventional “heat exchanger for bathing shower” comprises a stacked upper deck 30 and a founded lower chassis 40 as well as a front hatch 50 and a rear hatch 50 as shown in FIGS. 1 through 8, wherein said upper deck 30, which is a planiform cuboid extruded by metal material and encompassed by a flat top surface 31, a bottom surface 32, a front side 33, a rear side 34, a pair of parallel flanks 35, includes a plurality of screw bores 36 created in the front side 33 and rear side 34 respectively, several parallel septa 37 downwardly disposed on the bottom surface 32 such that a water passage 303 is created between each pair of adjacent septa 37, an upper docking latch bar 38 in male dovetail cross section being downwardly formed on the terminal of one septum 37, a circulating bore 39 being created on each septum 37 in interlaced stagger manner, which means a circulating bore 39 in upper section of one septum 37 and another circulating bore 39 in lower section of the other septum 37 for each pair of adjacent septa 37, so that all the adjacent water passages 303 can be mutually communicable as a continual zigzag circulating duct even being separated by a septum 37 between them, a water intake 301 is created in one flank 35 while a water outtake 302 is created in the other opposed flank 35 respectively; said lower chassis 40, which is a planiform slab extruded by metal material and encompassed by a top surface 41, a sole surface 42, a front side 43, a rear side 44, a pair of parallel flanks 45 with same planar shape and area in mating with the upper deck 30, includes a plurality of screw bores 47 created in the front side 43 and rear side 44 respectively, and a lower docking latch bar 46 in female dovetail cross section, which is upwardly formed on the top surface 41 in a suitable position corresponding to the upper docking latch bar 38 of the specific septum 37 on the upper deck 30 so that the male dovetailed upper docking latch bar 38 and the corresponding female dovetailed lower docking latch bar 46 can be securely engaged in mutual latch manner; and each hatch 50, which is a planiform slab with suitable planar shape and area to properly cover an interim integral assembly of the upper deck 30 and lower chassis 40 in flush manner, has a plurality of punched holes 51 disposed thereon in corresponding to the screw bores 36 on the upper deck 30 or screw bores 47 on the lower chassis 40 so that both of front and rear hatches 50 can hermetically seal both front sides 43 and 44 as well as both rear sides 34 and 44 of the interim integral assembly of the upper deck 30 and lower chassis 40 in plenum manner including all water passages 303 of continual zigzag circulating duct with septa 37 therein (as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8).
Referring to FIGS. 4 through 6, the assembling process is described as below. Firstly, align and insert the male dovetailed upper docking latch bar 38 on the upper deck 30 into the female dovetailed lower docking latch bar 46 on the lower chassis 40 (as shown in FIG. 4); secondly, simultaneously apply forces on both of the rear side 34 on the upper deck 30 and the front side 43 on the lower chassis 40 in opposed inward manner to dock both of the upper deck 30 and lower chassis 40 up to flush manner so that a interim integral assembly of the upper deck 30 and lower chassis 40 is assembled (as shown in FIG. 5); and finally, cover both of front and rear hatches 50 on both front sides 43 and 44 as well as both rear sides 34 and 44 of the interim integral assembly of the upper deck 30 and lower chassis 40, then drive (screws N) in the punched holes 51 on the upper deck 30 through the punched holes 51 on the lower chassis 40 to securely fix the interim integral assembly of the upper deck 30 and lower chassis 40 into a final plenum (as shown in FIG. 8).
Please refer to FIGS. 9 and 10. The installation and operation methods for a heat exchanger for bathing shower of the present invention are described as below. By means of proper pipe fittings, connect a water inlet pipe 23 of tap water to the water intake 301 on the upper deck 30 while connect a water outlet pipe 22 in water intake 11 of a water heater 10 to the water outtake 302 on the same upper deck 30 to finish the installation before operation (as shown in FIG. 9). For shower, firstly, upon a shower user M starting shower, certain hot shower water W, which comes from the water heater 10 and flow through a water outlet pipe 12, will spray out of the shower sprayer 13; secondly, the hot shower water W will drop on the flat top surface 31 of the upper deck 30 after shower on the body of the shower user M, meanwhile certain cold tap water W1 will flow into the water passages 303 of the upper deck 30 orderly via the water inlet pipe 23 and the water intake 301 of the upper deck 30, then circulate among all water passages 303 by means of every circulating bore 39 on each septum 37 (as indicated by arrowhead shown in FIG. 10) to absorb thermal energy of the dropped hot shower water W on the flat top surface 31 of the upper deck 30 so that the cold tap water W1 becomes warm heat-exchanged water W2; and finally, the warm heat-exchanged water W2 then flows out of the water outtake 302 on the upper deck 30; and then flows into the water heater 10 orderly via the water outlet pipe 22 and the water intake 11 thereof for serving as warm feeding water (as shown in FIG. 9). Thereby, the energy-saving effect for such as electricity or gas consumption of the water heater 10 is achieved.
The energy-saving effect for such as electricity or gas consumption of the conventional “heat exchanger for bathing shower” is basically achieved after practical test for product thereof. However, there is a blemish in an otherwise perfect thing that the measured “recovering rates for the residual heat in spent shower water” for the conventional “heat exchanger for bathing shower” is only in range of 15-20%. Accordingly, how to substantially increase the overall “efficiency of heat exchange” so that the energy-saving effect for such as electricity or gas consumption thereof can be essentially enhanced becomes a further seeking goal. Via constantly study and research, an expected sample of the present invention is eventually contrived with measured “recovering rates for the residual heat in spent shower water” for the present invention of “thermal energy exchanger for bathing shower water” is over 50%.